A hard disc drive (HDD) is a device to reproduce data recorded on a disc or records data onto the disc using a read/write head. The hard disc drive is being widely used as an auxiliary memory device of a computer system owing to its capability to access a great amount of data at a high speed.
Recently, the HDD has high capability owing to its increased Tracks Per Inch (TPI) and Bits Per Inch (BPI). As the HDD has high capability, the read/write head has a smaller size and a gap between a slider flying above the surface of a disc and the disc becomes narrower.
Especially, in the case of an HDD applying Thermal Fly height Control (TFC) technique, the slider and the disc maintains a gap of 1-5 nanometers (nm) therebetween.
However, if the slider flies while maintaining a smaller gap from the disc, lubricant on the surface of the disc may be transferred to the slider due to a reverse flow of air.
FIG. 1 is a view showing a lubricant transfer phenomenon occurring on a slider of a hard disc drive (HDD) in accordance with the related art, and FIG. 2 is a view showing an air flow inside the slider of FIG. 1.
As shown, when the disc 200 rotates, air 202 is introduced into space between the disc and the slider 204 along a rotation direction of the disc 200, thereby flying the slider 204. The air has deceased pressure at a trailing edge (TE) thereof. As a result, a reverse flow of the air 206 occurs along the TE and an Air Bearing Surface (ABS).
The reverse flow transfers lubricant 208 which is on the surface of the disc 200 to the slider. This may cause the lubricant to be accumulated on the slider or the disc, and cause a difficulty in maintaining the gap between the slider and the disc. As a result, the HDD may not smoothly operate.
In the related art, the reverse flow is prevented by changing a shape of the slider, or by forming a lube dam on the ABS.
However, the related method may have the following problems. That is, the slider has a restricted shape, and flying performance of the slider on the ABS is lowered.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.